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View Full Version : Verizon Fios vs. Comcast



BDNiner
September 12th, 2008, 04:39 PM
I think that Verizon Fios is available in my neighborhood and was thinking of switching from Comcast. is there anyone here that currently uses vesion's service. my comcast service is spotty at best. pages randomly don't load every 20 minutes or so, i have to wait another minute or so before i can try to load another page, and pidgin keeps getting disconnected for no reason, cable tv randomly goes out, tvguide stops working.

So can anyone rate verizon's service?

Nopposan
September 12th, 2008, 04:47 PM
I know a linux fan who's using Verizon FIOS near Washington DC. He says it's working just great for him. I've got Comcast and I must report that although the technician who came to my house to fix our connection issue was very patient and helpful, their customer service is generally slow and less helpful than Verizon DSL's. Furthermore, the cable connections in my neighborhood are a mess; some of the cables are exposed above the ground now and I'm just waiting for some kid on a mountain bike to knock out all the cable connections in the whole subdivision!

BTW, I was having a similar problem to yours and the Comcast tech who came out to our house showed me just how many cable connections are in line behind my cable modem; it's amazing, and I'd bet that the possibility of any one connection going wrong is somehow positively correlated with the number of connections! :-) As it turned out, we just had to change out one of the cables that's in our house. Maybe you have a similar problem; until you get FIOS try tightening all of the connections you can find, and then if that doesn't work, call Comcast to come test the cables and connections.

Cheers.

BDNiner
September 12th, 2008, 04:54 PM
Yeah i also live between DC and Baltimore and verizon keeps sending me mailing about switching to their service. I have about had it with comcast. i was downloading some software and noticed that my internet connection kept dropping but the download would not stop. so i am watching the progress bar and hitting refresh but nothing is loading.

I am disappointed that they are not offering an increase in speed. i still get the 8 down/ 2 up. i was hoping to move up to 15 down and 5 up or even 20 down and 5 up. i mean they are running fiber almost to my house.

I agree with comcast and their cabling. the ran a cable underground to the house but it comes out and back on the pole just up the street. they should run the whole thing under ground or none at all.

Icehuck
September 12th, 2008, 05:16 PM
This is why I don't like FIOS.

Up to 10 Mbps/2 Mbps $42.99/month

Its fiber and for $40 your getting the same speed you get with Cable. You don't get anywhere near actual fiber speeds even with their higher rate of service of: Up to 50 Mbps/20 Mbps $139.95/month. They also give you a speeds will vary disclaimer as well. So you might not even be getting what they are offering, which seems to always be the case with an ISP.

Taken from here FIOS (http://www22.verizon.com/content/consumerfios/packages+and+prices/packages+and+prices.htm)

SunnyRabbiera
September 12th, 2008, 05:40 PM
For me I would stick with comcast, Verizon support is worse in my experience.
Neither or are that great to be honest, but blame that on lack of competition.

cmargolin
September 12th, 2008, 06:36 PM
I've had Fios for several years now. The service is extremely reliable and the speed is consistent -- download is slightly higher than advertised and upload just slightly lower.